Jupiter Wants you!

To fight in the Roman army!........
but only kind of.  I mean you can choose not to, and yell at the consuls when they call a levy and just don't answer when your name when it's called.  You can get the tribunes to rouse the plebs so that way they dont want to fight.  Even if you are in the army you could just loose on purpose if you dont like your leaders.  So in other words, kinda do what you want.

That would be a Roman Republic war poster to enlist.  Its amazing just how little cohesion there was in the Roman state at this point in time because its mind boggling that a state in such poor domestic shape can conquer the region and hold it.  Anyhow this was more of a funny for my friends also reading livy.

Anyhow, IM GOING TO NAPOLI!!!!!!

we got tickets today, its going to be a blast!!

Besides that we havent been up to much.  have a paper to write, and lots to read for class, and sleep to catch up on.  It takes a lot out of you being in a foreign country.  Anyhow there will be more about tomorrow for sure as we have another trip.  Untill then.

nbd

So this whole trip has been nbd (for my family that means No Big Deal).  It has become the motto of our trip, every time that we do something that normally sounds epic to our normal American selves it is completely normal to our Roman selves.  For example we went to the Forum today, nbd.  So this has become our go to phrase to make ourselves realize just how amazing of a time we are really having, but nothing has compared to this weekend so far.  Yesterday and today, I went to see the sights at the Vatican.

Being the good Catholic that I am, I was utterly awestruck by all of it, and felt a certain sense of pride for my religion's ability to create such beauty (granted that most of it came about because of corruption, thats besides the point :P).  None the less after seeing such wonders it is impossible to say that religion does not have its good points, one of which being art.

On the first day myself and 2 other friends went to the Vatican Museums to see all of the art and the Sistine Chapel.  We had gotten our tickets the day before on a slight whim, which turned out to be the best idea ever!  We started out our tour going into a large courtyard, and we had no idea where to start, so we picked a random hallway.  That hallway was a good 100 yards long and all throughout it there were literally hundreds of marble statue heads  from the Roman and Greek era.  We quickly realized that there was so much, and we had no idea what all of it was, but we were liking every second of it.  we slowly worked our way down the hall to another wing of the Museum, where we found more complete statues from the Greek and Roman era.  As our minds were being overwhelmed with not knowing what things where our friend David showed that he knew some about art from his art history class in high school.  This came in handy the rest of the day as he was able to point out the really famous pieces and give us some background.  This helped end some of our confusion, but the shear amount of art still left us breathless.   We continued down this second hallway where we found the Augustus di Prina Porta, which is the most famous statue of Augustus in just about the world, and it is in pristine condition.  And for our pictures the light was streaming down on his face just right making him look even more majestic then he was already.

OH!  By the way, everyone told us you cant take pictures in the Vatican Museums.  LIES!!!!  ALL LIES!!!!!   You can take pictures everywhere in the Museums except in the Sistine Chapel.

Back to the art.  after finding this masterpiece we continued down the rest of the hallway finding other wonderful pieces of art, including gods, and other famous Romans, and there was even a famous one of the Nile River.

After finishing with this hallway we went back the way we came to be able to move to the next area of the tour. We came into a courtyard where we found a statue, that is very famous, made by greeks called
Laocoön. It is a statue of the guy who tried to tell the trojans not to fall for the Trojan horse being eaten by snakes (the gods really wanted the greeks to win). Anyhow the are of it was just fantastic. We moved on into another room, where honestly things just start to blur together, there was SO much art! We did find some very cool statues of gods and emperors, and other cool people, but none stick out in my mind enough to rant about them long enough to post it. At this point out minds are just being blown. We came down another hallway and it was full of tapestry from what looked like the middle ages, then after that came the map room which is filled on all sides with detailed maps of Italy and its cities. We even found a papal insignia made of cut marble, so not just a mosaic but cut marble, inlaid in the floor. It was even so detailed it had the tasseled rope connected the keys of the papacy inlaid as well.

So yeah.  then we hit the big boys.  We entered into the Raphael rooms where it was not just pictures on the wall as we expected, but the walls themselves where the paintings.  Take for example my favorite, the School of Athens, which i had thought was a painting, but no, its a whole wall!  This went on for about 3 or 4 rooms, all with stunning detail and done so well it looked as if the painted figures where going to jump out of the wall and interact with us.  After this there was only the contemporary art gallery before the Sistine Chapel, needless to say we walked very fast through and ignored that gallery, as compared to the others it was lack luster.  

Then the gods descended down from the heavens in the room called the Sistine Chapel.  I have heard people say numerous times that the chapel is smaller then you expect, full of tourists, and not that impressive.  The only account that was right on was the amount of tourists.  The room was huge!  everywhere you looked it was just a giant piece of art.  There were frescoes of popes around the edge and all looked so life-like that it was hard to see that they were not actually a statue in an alcove but a painting on a wall.  It mesmerized the eyes.  We were lucky enough to find so seats on the outside wall of the room and sat for a good ten minutes just trying to take it all in.  That room alone was so beautiful and breathtaking that it made the 20 euro that we payed for tickets completely worth it.  After we left the Sistine Chapel everything after that was just a shadow, competing even to be worthy of being considered to sit in the same museum as the Sistine Chapel.  It was one of the highlights of my trip so far.  

Ok long post but almost done.  

Today we went to the actual Basilica.  We wanted to try and see a mass but we were not sure when it would be or if there would be one, but we wanted to see the place anyhow so we were all very excited to be inside. You have to understand that I have wanted to go to St. Peter's Basilica for just about my entire life.  The ultimate seat of authority for my religion in one building, is hard not to be considered moving.  As we walked inside I just about burst with utter enthusiasm!  However some of that was shattered when i soon realized that i had forgotten to put my memory card back into my camera after uploading photos last night.  FAIL!  but none the less it allowed me to focus on taking in the sights and then coming back another day to take pictures.  The Basilica is also one of the most beautiful places i have ever been in.  The Sistine Chapel is amazing, however it is small compared to the Basilica, and the Basilica is just a giant work of art in every aspect.  There is not an inch of that building that some artist did not bleed his soul into.  As we were walking around they began to herd us tourists away from a certain area, then we realized that it was because they were about to start mass.  My friends and I quickly got seats and sat through mass at the Vatican!  YAY LIFE!  i mean it wasn't as great because it was all in Latin and we couldn't understand it but it was still very nice and we received communion.  

Take that Dad!  I went to mass, and at the Vatican!  I also gave money during the offering!  So you can no longer bother me about not going to mass until you go there and do the same!  :P

Anyhow after mass we made our way outside with EVERYONE else.  Everyone was just being dumb in a crowd, and it was pretty bad, but we stuck together and were working our way into the plaza when we quickly found out that the Pope normally comes out every Sunday at noon to address the crowd, guess what time it was!  Pope Benny gave us a nice little blessing in about 5 different languages and we even managed to get a couple descent photos of him in his apartment.  Lastly to make our day even better, we found some Swiss Guards and they let us take a picture with them.  Like I said before nbd.   

The Glory that is Rome

So I just got done making myself a wonderful lunch.  I cooked up some chicken breast, which i had bought earlier in the week, which i then threw into a sauce that already has cheese in it.  After that i cooked up some noddles and had some makeshift chicken parmesan.  Joe 1   Cooking 0.

Yesterday we had a wonderful little class where you talked about the kings of Rome, and how good they were, until they got to the Tarquins, and then it was about how bad they were.  Besides that class went by relatively fast at which point me and my friends went to what is called the "typewriter".  It is actually the monument to Victor Emanuel II who was the King who united Italy in the late 1800s.  Why they call it a typewriter i do not know, because i dont think it looks like one, it is also called the "wedding cake".  I also dont see that.  It just looks really big!  Anyhow we went up to the top where you can see the entire city on all sides.  It was rather wonderful seeing all that is Rome.  You could see the Colosseum, which was rather close, the Forum, which was right next to the monument, and the Vatican off in the distance on the other side of the river.

Speaking of the Colosseum, I keep forgeting to post an interesting tid bit about it.  They have just recently found out that instead of being built with public funds, which was the traditional thought, it was actually built with money from the sack of Jerusalem.  Go figure.

Lastly after taking some very nice group pictures we all went home and relaxed for the rest of the day.  Then today we had class and I just ate lunch.  Yep not too much going on.  Plan to go do some paperwork things that I need taking care of, and then traveling to the pantheon again?  we shall see.

I Created Freedom!

So a few things that I forgot for my post yesterday in our "study" induced stupper.  (no worries family, we were perfectly safe inside our own apartment just hanging out :P )

1) the bust of Brutus that I mentioned from the Museums.  One of the coolest pieces of Roman art that I have seen.  It was so very life like and the scowl on his face just seems to say "I created Freedom!  What have you done with your life?!?"  I enjoyed it a lot!

2) We also found the Senate house in the forum, which i mentioned before, but it was rather awesome the scope of it.  Even though it was small, this was where the Senate sat and decided matters of state.  Also a little known fact but Caesar actually rebuilt the Senate house, which is the one we went in, moving it slightly and having it so the doors of the Senate house opened into his forum that he had built for the city.  Impressive if you ask me.  lastly it was so small that all the Senators could not fit into it, and actually most had to wait outside building during a meeting.  good little tid bits there.  

3) look back at the picture of Brutus and think about your life....

A Big Pile of Rocks, They MUST be Important!

At least in Rome.  It seems that every pile of rocks or ruins has history on top of its history.  We went on a class trip to the Capitoline Museums, and the ruins of the Roman ruin.  We started the trip at the museum which we quickly found out was built upon the ruins of the ancient temple of Jupiter by the orders of the pope.  It was built on top of the ruins and also around the old Senate building from the medieval age, and even directs your eyes toward the Vatican.  Talk about trying to break from your ancient ties.  So in the process of all of this building Rome has just become a giant pile of history.  We even found a building that’s side was ancient and the rest of the building was from the 1600s.  This just makes it so much fun to explore!!  

So anyhow the trip to the museum was amazing!  There was SO much Roman art that it was just piled up around the different rooms.  There were busts of every single Roman Emperor, a bust of the first Brutus, a list of every single consul of Rome, the She-Wolf statue, it goes on and on.  There was a statue of Marcus Arrelius, which was the only full equestrian statue left from the Roman era, and tons of statues of Constantine, Hadrian, and so many gods.  Idk even how to describe it, there were just so many.  See some of the pics below. 

Marcus

She-Wolf

After we went to the museums we went to the coliseum, which was loads of fun, because our tour guide knew so much about the topic.  We also got a tour with some of the headphones over walkie talkies so we all looked like secret agents walking around the coliseum.  We walked around the different levels, debating how the floor was flooded for sea battles, and how the seating was arranged for the different classes.  There is the is the saying that the entire coliseum could be emptied in 15 mins, our tour guide told us “that is totally not true.  No one in Roman gave a damn about the plebs.”  So great!  So after we walked the different levels and found out about the structure of the building, we also learned that most gladiator fights did were not actually fatal, and in fact a thumbs up was for a kill, and thumbs down to live.  Then we moved on to the Forum. 

There we found all the different temples in various states of disrepair, as well as the senate house and the funeral sight for Julius Caesar.  All the temples were pretty much the same, so there is not much to say about them, however the Senate building was actually very small but very well built.  We also found out that the Senate had multiple places that it could meet, and the one in the Forum being only one of the places they could meet.  This means that Caesar was actually killed elsewhere, and in fact, ironically, he was killed in the theater of Pompey.  To make up for it however like I said before his funeral sight was located in the forum, where Mark Athony gave his famous speech and the plebs of the city burned down the Senate house in response. 

Funeral pyre of Caesar 

Much later we tried to go to the movies to see the Hangover 2 but we found out it was only in Italian.  We got gelato and wine instead and decided to blog and read livy together.  A good choice!  That is what we are doing now, and with that I leave you all for now. 

Fragelay, It must be Italian!

Well yesterday was supposed to be a boring day of orientation and learning to speak Italian.  At least it started that way.  Orientation went well, not much to tell there.  We were told not to get kidnapped, raped, pick pocketed, or be stupid Americans who get lost on the buses.  We learned all of these wonderful tips (some actually where very helpful.  Accent knows their shit!) and then we had a 3 hour break for grocery shopping and eating!  SO MUCH FUN!  After we had our Italian class to help us not be so touristy.  However this failed epicly as the teacher took us to get gelato after the class to test our skills.  So in summery we got ice cream, without learning anything.  Bene!

So after this we were planning on just going back to our apartment, however with a sper of the moment desicsion (and by that i mean we planned it just before the Italian class) we had a crazy adventure.  We did this

All of foot.  It took us a good 5 hours to complete.  We saw the Piazza Navona first which is a really nice long plaza with some huge fountains up and down its length, as well as flanked by a beautiful church (along with every other plaza in Rome).  After the Piazza we found our way to the Pantheon.  First word that comes to mind to describe it is "OLD", the second being "HUGE".  This is by far one of my favorite places that we have been to so far.  Not only was it built by the romans and still standing, it was also converted into a beautiful church on the inside.  It was absolutely stunning.  It also contained the graves of Victor Emmanuel II who was the King that united Italy, and Raphael the artist.  It was a great experience.

After our Pantheon stop we hit the Trevi Fountain.  For that one stop the first word that comes to mind is "OMG TOURISTS!"  While the fountain is so beautiful and a nice place to be, there are just so many tourists around it that it takes a little bit away from the beauty.  Despite this it was still great.  All of my friends and I threw coins in so that way we can be promised to return to Rome sometime in the future, or so they say.  We took plenty of pictures there as well, and even stole some water for one of the fountains on the side.

Lastly we came upon the Spanish steps, which was the goal of our excursion in the first place. While the steps where also very beautiful and I did enjoy them, they may have been my least favorite of our stops, however this may have been because I was just about exhausted and dead.  I do plan to go back there though and appreciate the steps more throughly.   As we walked up the steps we made it down a road a ways talking a quick walk along the huge park in Rome, the Villa Borghese.  as it was later we only stayed for about 5 mins before heading back to find a place to eat.  We found a very quaint place, where we were put in the basement almost by ourselves (it was still very nice).  We shared some pizzas and water and were off back to our apartment. the rest of the trip was pretty uneventful besides a quick stop to the Trevi Fountain once again to see it after dark.  We also bottled some of the water to take back with us.  All a good time.  As we got back I died until class this morning, but i wont bore any of you with those details.

What would Caesar do?

So where did I leave off.  Breakfast, yes that’s right.  Ok so we were just about to go down to the market to go check it out and buy some really cheap Italian goods when…. We got a fb message from one of my friends from home saying that our last roommate to arrive was lost in Rome.  Luckily just about after we got that message we found out that he had gotten a cab to take him to the correct location for our apartment.  We found out, as Dylan stumbled in the door looking half dead, that he had spent two hours walking around Rome (because his cab driver had dropped him off in the complete opposite side of the city from where he was supposed to be.  After about an hour of walking around and calling my phone, which was dead because I didn’t get it set up for international calls, he ended up calling the American embassy.  Yes the American Embassy.  The thing you go to when you’re in a foreign country and then there is a revolution or a riot.  That’s how lost he was.  Well thank the State Department because they gave him the number of the Accent people and they got him a cab to our apartment, which he arrived at safe and sound. 

After we had all survived arriving in Italy we ventured down into the market to see the sights.  It was rather wonderful.  The market filled the entire street for a good 4 blocks, about 3 stalls deep, and all outside.  There were so many things there, just about anything you could have wanted you could find.  For example I found an Ethernet cord which now allows me to get the internet on my computer.  YAY!  And our oddest find was a confederate flag, yes the American kind.  Besides that we found some fedoras, ties, lots of shirts, sunglasses and watches for 3 euro, and one of my friends got a purse for 5 euros.  All the shop vendors were willing to haggle.  It was very nice, and a good time. 

After we ate a quick lunch of pasta, we decided to walk to the old parts of the city and try and find the ruins.  It was a fairly straight shot to the place, we walked around the area alittle before we actually found the Colosseum but it was worth it.  On our journey we found what was left of the Circus Maximus (the old Roman chariot race track) which is only a dirt path around a small raise in the ground.  It was very sad to see something that used to be one of the greatest buildings in the world reduced to only to a park with some gravel to preserve where the track had been.  None the less it was still very cool to see.  After walking past that we found the Triumph Arch of Constantine which was huge, and for being almost two thousand years old, was still utterly breath taking in its stone work.  Next to the arch was the Colesseum which was nice, but before going there we also wanted to see the Arch of Titus which was also in the area on the Palantine Hill (which is also full of ruins).  As we reached the arch of Titus however it started to rain, and then storm.  At this point we decided to turn back for the day. 

As we were walking back however street venders somehow sensing that it was going to rain put on ponchos and began trying to sell umbrellas to the tourists.  These people just came out of nowhere, and I mean they were all over the place.  It was a fine example of capitalism at its finest and I must say I was very impressed by it.  So by the time we had made it back to our apartment we were utterly soaked (except for david who had gotten an umbrella) and we just about collapsed.  After this we had a meeting with our professor for our class as he described his plans for the next 3 weeks and then we went to dinner afterwards.  I had my first Italian pizza which was very good, and not as different as I thought it was going to be from American pizza.  For those of you wondering it had sauce, tomatoes, and spices on it.  For dessert I had a tiramisu which was rather fantastic.  And now I’m about to call it a night. 

And with that, Goodnight world

Joe

To the Death? No, to the Pain!

So there are few words to describe the situation that I now am in.  Some few that come to mind are awesome, crazy, and merp.  Where to start this tail of only two days....

I guess the flight is not a bad start.  Well first about that, IT IS NOT NATURAL FOR THERE TO BE A 4 HOUR NIGHT!!!!!  When you see the sun set and rise again in about 4 hours your mind just cant comprehend it.  And this is not like Alaska where this is normal and the sun just kinda sets; no this is where the sun goes all the way out and then the stars come out, then woops!  sun again.  Not cool for my internal clock.  Besides that the 8 1/2 hour flight was not too bad.  They had movies on demand for us and food (which was about as bad as caf food).  In other words me and Brandon survived.

Next we got into the EU.  That took about 2 seconds.  We waited in a long line thinking that we are going to have to show our passports, tickets, a DNA sample and possibly sell our soul.  Instead I go to hand the guy my passport and he just waves me through without even giving me a second glance.  After we got out luggage the same thing happened for customs.  there was a line for "yes i have something to claim" and "no i dont"  there was no one checking the "no" line so anyone could just walk out.  YAY boarder security !

Next come our taxi ride, of course me and brandon being the newfound tourists that were are, got fanagled into getting a taxi with the airport people for overprice and a sketch taxi.  So we were almost convinced that we were going to get trafficked for a second, but alas our taxi driver was pretty cool (picture sterotypical Italian man: olive skin, crazy driver, and stopped to stare at every good looking women in sight).  So he dropped us off in the square where we were supposed to be....However that didnt help us find the building.   X(   We then proceded to walk within a block radis trying to find anything that will help us.  We asked Italians for help, some pointed us down the block, others sending us back the way we came.  We even found the pantheon in our exploring!  We finally found our building after asking a french person we found, go figure.

After all that we got a alittle speel from the Accent place and then took taxis to our apartments.  We arrived and then got another speel about all the rules (basicly dont be an ass).  We walked into our apartment and our jaws dropped, ITS HUGE!!!!!  there are five of us in here and there is plenty of room.  We were expecting like dorm style apartments but this is crazy!  We have a kitchen, full bath, two different bedrooms, and a lounge, and each room has its own balcony!

So after we moved in and a few of our other spartans friends had arrived we all figured we needed food. We were all so shell shocked we walked around the store looking at all the different things saying "oh, we need this"  look at it, dont decide what to get and move on to something else.  We got enough for pasta and that was it.  After we made a list.

At this point me and Brandon are dead on our feet off our 3ish hours of sleep.  We try fighting the sleep to allow ourselves to better fit the time change.  This lasted until untill a bunch of things went wrong.  All the converter plugs we have are for WESTERN EUROPE not SOUTHER EUROPE.  So we only have one charger that one of our roommates has.  We still did not get phones at this point so cant call anyone back home.  My computer is being dumb and wont pick up the internet in our apartment so i can only use brandon's computer (like i am now).  And we hadnt found a good atm yet.  At this point we just gave up and slept for 2 hours.

So it is now 5pm in Rome, and we wake up and our friends had made the pasta we had gotten.  We ate that with a very good cheap wine that we had aslo picked up.  WIN FOR EATING!  After that we split up as a group.  Our friends went to go buy the things on our shopping list while me and Brandon decided to try and walk and find the Accent building where our classes were to be, and then meet back up just after 8 to go for dinner to celebrate our first day in Roma.

Luckily the Accent building is not too hard to find (after you know where it is...) being on a plaza which happens to be right down the road from the Vatican.  So Brandon and I took the main street by our apartment all the way down to the Tiber and followed that up all the way to the Vatican.  It was a long walk but so nice and beautiful!  It took us about an hour but our route kept us from getting lost.  Once we got to the split point between Accent and the Vatican however, being the good Catholic that I am, I couldnt handle it and me and brandon (knowing the way to Accent for sure and how long it would take) walked down to St. Peter's square.  There are not words for that place. It is just so majestic and the structure is just beautiful!  But it was a good side trip as we found a good ATM and got us some Euros.  We found our way back just in time for dinner.

We went to dinner at a nice place not too far from our apartments (this is about all the sophomores on the trip).  It was very nice and fairly good priced as far as I could tell.  I got a calzone with pruchette (sp?) and cheese, which just about killed my mouth it was so good, while a bunch of us shared a bottle of wine.  After dinner and after we Madison majors were able to figured out the math of how much everyone owed for the meal we headed out to celebrate being in the city.  we walked up and down our main street for awhile until we found the perfect place, which was a gelato place that also sold alcohol.  College students dream!  We all had a good time, not doing anything too stupid, while enjoying ourselves at the same time.  Shorlty after we got back I passed out from the pure death that had been the day (no I had drank that much :P).  

Now i sit in our kitchen listening to the outside market that is going on just outside our apartments today.  After I get some food I'm going to check it out.  Should be fun!  :)

So as of right now my trip has been utterly crazy and very hard, but I am loving every minute of it!!!!!  :D

Love you all of my friends, family, and girlfriend ;)  back home!
Joe


P.S. Yes i know my titles dont make sense but i like them :P  And yes pics will be coming soon!

Staying Classy

So the last couple days have come with lots of things getting done and lots of things also going wrong.  I have changed my wardrobe for Italy, hoping to make myself look less like the American that I am, and blend in with the Euros.  I went to the bank a few days ago to gain some Euros as spending money for cab fair and food once  we land (my dad promptly told me they looked like monopoly money, and not very good monopoly at that).  I also figured out how I am going to deal with money in Italy (yay ATMs!).  Lastly I also got all my books in the mail and I'm super excited to read just about all of them!

However with most of these things now figured out there was the bad news.  First, my friend who I was supposed to meet in France after the Italy program is over is now not going to France for the summer.  Now me and my friend have 5 days to do things in France with no agenda there.  While there is the bonus of just traveling France and doing whatever, I will not be able to see my friend over the summer now.  Also I may be able to see my other friend in Spain during this time, so I guess it equals out in the end.  Second, the Detroit Red Wings, the best sports team in the history of forever lost in game 7 to the San Jose sharks last night, and I am still in morning   as of today.  :'(   Horrible, horrible things.

Now I must focus on the most dreadful part of my pre-journey adventure...Packing.  I shall let you all know if I survive this ordeal sometime in the near future.  If you don't hear from me know that I thought highly of all of you, and remember me fondly!

All Roads Lead to Rome....

Or at least I hope so, otherwise I will be helplessly lost! 

So this is my blog for my Italy trip with Michigan State University and James Madison College.  We are going to be going to Rome and then Florence for a total of 6 weeks to study Republicanism throughout history.  You might ask, does that have anything to do at all with any major that is relative to real life?  The answer is probably no, but I like to think it is!  As my major is Political Theory and Constitutional Democracy this would make some amount of sense for me to express this delusion.  In my major we study the works of major philosophers throughout history and look at what they say is the ideal human society, and other major subjects on life (e.g. Justice, government, morality, etc).  So with that in mind, it makes sense that I would think this applies to life. 

Any how, more details on the trip.  In Rome we will study THE Republic; that is the Roman Republic.  It will be a blast to be able to actually learn about something so pivotal to our history, in the actual place where it happened; I'm looking forward to it!  After that we shall take a pleasant 3 hour train ride through the beautiful landscape of Tuscany to the city of Florence.  There we will compare the American Republic to the European Union, using Machiavelli's blueprint of a Republic as our point of reference.  This part is essentially my dream class for a number of reasons.  1) I love the works of Machiavelli.  2) I like learning the intricacies of the EU.  3) We will be in Italy!  Also for this part of my trip we will be visiting Machiavelli's farm where he spent the end of his life and wrote most of his works.  SO STOKED!

So why do I think this applies to life in a practical way?  Ummm, good question!  I like to believe that studying the past will give us better clues about where we came from so we will be better able to understand where we are going. 

So, yeah that's my major and trip in a nutshell.  I hope to put more up soon.  I shall try and share all of the craziness of getting ready for traveling abroad with all of you!  And with that to try and get in the mindset of an ancient Roman

Pax, and may the Republic stand!